This is a song I wrote a year ago in response to the events occurring in Uganda, where children have been abducted from their villages and brainwashed into killing machines for the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), pillaging other Ugandan villages, murdering/raping women and children, etc. It is written to Fort Minor's "Right Now" and I performed it at a benefit concert for Invisible Children last year as well. Invisible Children I think we're all guilty in being a part of society Blind to suffering, disease, frequent inequalities I see, entirely, we're full of hypocrisy We know of life's fatalities, fallacies, miseries yet ignorantly We blow right pass, turn the other cheek and never look back It's unjust, but why do we do that? Around my way fellas complain about not gettin' that whip On the other side of the spectrum it's a different image Instead of sunny skies adorned by palm trees and clean facilities You're left with a land blackened by dark clouds and sceneries Enter through the trees, meet security If they ain’t strapped with AK’s they’re concerned about the children's safety Just the other day three cats jumped a young one Left his eye black, bloody lip, and his chest numb Slaughtered his family and left them out in the cold Bleeding profusely, in the streets but nobody knows Can anybody hear me? Will anybody listen? No, I’m just one of the invisible children [Chorus] They took my dreams, they took my life Now they’re the reason why I’m running every night Every time I hide, I wonder if I’ll survive I’m thankful for every day that I wake up alive They take us from our homes, and scare us with fear But the whole world is blind, fallen on deaf ears [Verse 2] They dragged me in the streets, to the fields, from my feet Cut up and bloody they don’t let me sleep, let me eat This isn’t freedom but they tell me that it’s what I’m fighting for Because of us Uganda’s suffering from a civil war Now I’m a soldier: a rebel without a cause A visionary for justice, a missionary for God This can’t be life: raping women, killing children Burning villages down in the name of the Lord I’m supposed to be a hero but they say the LRA Is the enemy, turning kids into killing machines I had dreams of being a lawyer, but now I handle the law With my machete, villagers call me “Deadly” Fire arms readily, everybody’s against me Pressed against my chest, the weight of the world is heavy They took my childhood away, they say I’m one of the best Who would’ve thought, I’d become the walking shadow of death I know there’s more to life than violence and theft But all I see is hatred and death (so what’s left for me now?) [Chorus] [Alternate Chorus] They took my dreams, they took my life Now they’re the reason why I’m running every night Every time I hide, I wonder if I’ll survive I’m thankful for every day that I wake up alive Can anybody hear me? Will anybody listen? No, I’m just one of the invisible children [Verse 3] I sit up dark nights and contemplate how I can imagine The damage done to our lands at the hands of this disaster They knew about the threat, but they just sat and watched Now we have an entire state ravaged: at what cost? So we could fight the war? Then tell me for what cause? It's like they value death over life: it needs to stop Nothing but lies, the government is full of it Corruption’s running rampant in this world of politics We try to rebuild, but now is way too late They could've done their best, instead they had to wait And hope that nothing this tragic would ever surface Face reality, the LRA is coming straight for us Through all our efforts only time will tell, can we rewrite our sins? Make amends, begin anew before the killing ends? United we stand, divided we fall Together as one nation, united by all Looking towards the sky, I dry my eyes and stay out of sight I’m waiting for the day our Savior arrives to save our lives I escaped the LRA a couple weeks ago Please don’t call me “Deadly,” now I’m known as “Hope” I just couldn’t take it anymore Knocking down village doors, I’d rather sleep on the floors Of these crowded hospitals with all my sisters and brothers We’ll make it out someday, one way or another [Chorus/Alternate Chorus] [Outro] “Hope” will die if you let him be “Deadly” So let’s keep “Hope” alive (repeat fade)